class="">Saint Whirligig Stories

We are in an ambiguous laboratory in which the real and the dream are not separated by firm boundaries, in which experience, imagination, dream and memory mix up their respective tools, and place and time are changing coordinates, suffering numerous twists and turns. Mihai Măniuțiu’s intricate prose is being read with the feeling that mysterious keys to unlock great truths are to be found right here and now, but also with the fertile despair of not being able to find the doors to open.

The surreal approach of the world is absolutely legitimate in the eyes of the child reader. As in childhood the fantastic is part of this world, the levels glide into each other, the boundaries between worlds and objects, the seemingly immutable proportions can be modified or at least negotiated, the distortion is positive, because innovative, the story flows and can always return to their own statements. There are ways to preserve amazement, curious and bold innocence, freedom of movement between words and things, for a renewed evaluation of human relationships.

Irina Petraș